Adelphi Records is an American independent record label founded in 1968 and incorporated in 1970 by Gene Rosenthal.

History

The label name was crafted by Rosenthal to suggest a combination of the Greek oracle, nearby Adelphi, Maryland, as well as a tip of the hat to a John Fahey song, "The Downfall of the Adelphi Rolling Grist Mill". Extensive field recordings were begun in 1964 and expanded to include film documentation beginning in early/mid 1969, including sessions in Chicago, St. Louis, Memphis and the Mississippi Delta. In the 1970s, the label began issuing folk, jazz and blues-rock albums. The latter were significantly important to the development of that genre. In the mid-1970s, two of Adelphi's biggest selling artists were the Nighthawks and the Rosslyn Mountain Boys. Towards the end of the 1970s the label's sales and growth had significantly expanded. This was particularly marked in the early 1980s, when Adelphi established its wholly owned subsidiary label, Sunsplash Records, predominantly to issue Jamaican reggae performances from the 1982 Reggae Sunsplash Festival. Musician signings continued into the 1990s and, after a short hiatus, resumed in the 2000s with studio sessions in New Orleans by Ken Swartz & The Palace of Sin, and in

Silver Spring, Maryland Silver Spring is a census-designated place (CDP) in southeastern Montgomery County, Maryland, United States, near Washington, D.C. Although officially unincorporated, in practice it is an edge city, with a population of 81,015 at the 2020 ce ...

sessions with the Rose Sheehan Group including vocals by Lisa Null.

Recordings

Musicians on that label are (among others)

The Nighthawks The Nighthawks are an American blues and roots music band, based in Washington, D.C. As of 2018, The Nighthawks are Mark Wenner (vocals and harmonica), Dan Hovey (lead guitar), Paul Pisciotta (bass guitar), and Mark Stutso (drums). History F ...

Catfish Hodge Bobby Allen Hodge (born May 31, 1945), better known as Catfish Hodge, is an American blues musician. Early life and education Hodge was born and grew up in Detroit, Michigan, United States.Roy Buchanan Leroy "Roy" Buchanan (September 23, 1939 – August 14, 1988) was an American guitarist and blues musician. A pioneer of the Telecaster sound, Buchanan worked as a sideman and as a solo artist, with two gold albums early in his career and two lat ...

, ( rock);

Lenny Breau Leonard Harold Breau (August 5, 1941 – August 12, 1984) was an American-Canadian guitarist. He blended many styles of music, including jazz, country, classical, and flamenco. Inspired by country guitarists like Chet Atkins, Breau used finger ...

, Reuben Brown and Richie Cole (

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a m ...

);

Yellowman Winston Foster , better known by the stage name Yellowman, is a Jamaican reggae and dancehall deejay, also known as King Yellowman. He first became popular in Jamaica in the 1980s, rising to prominence with a series of singles that established ...

, Big Youth and

Toots & the Maytals The Maytals, known from 1972 to 2020 as Toots and the Maytals, are a Jamaican musical group, one of the best known ska and rocksteady vocal groups. The Maytals were formed in the early 1960s and were key figures in popularizing reggae music. ...

(

reggae Reggae () is a music genre that originated in Jamaica in the late 1960s. The term also denotes the modern popular music of Jamaica and its diaspora. A 1968 single by Toots and the Maytals, " Do the Reggay" was the first popular song to use ...

); Rev. Gary Davis, Gene Johnson, and Rev. Robert Wilkins ( blues and

spirituals Spirituals (also known as Negro spirituals, African American spirituals, Black spirituals, or spiritual music) is a genre of Christian music that is associated with Black Americans, which merged sub-Saharan African cultural heritage with the ex ...

); plus Nathan Beauregard, Roy Book Binder,

Roy Buchanan Leroy "Roy" Buchanan (September 23, 1939 – August 14, 1988) was an American guitarist and blues musician. A pioneer of the Telecaster sound, Buchanan worked as a sideman and as a solo artist, with two gold albums early in his career and two lat ...

, R. L. Burnside,

Gus Cannon Gustavus "Gus" Cannon (September 12, 1883 or 1884 – October 15, 1979) was an American blues musician who helped to popularize jug bands (such as his own Cannon's Jug Stompers) in the 1920s and 1930s. There is uncertainty about his birth year; ...

David Honeyboy Edwards David (; , "beloved one") (traditional spelling), , ''Dāwūd''; grc-koi, Δαυΐδ, Dauíd; la, Davidus, David; gez , ዳዊት, ''Dawit''; xcl, Դաւիթ, ''Dawitʿ''; cu, Давíдъ, ''Davidŭ''; possibly meaning "beloved one". w ...

, Paul Geremia,

Mississippi John Hurt John Smith Hurt (March 8, 1893 – November 2, 1966), better known as Mississippi John Hurt, was an American country blues singer and guitarist. Raised in Avalon, Mississippi, Hurt taught himself to play the guitar around the age of nine. He w ...

, Backwards Sam Firk, Richard "Hacksaw" Harney,

Skip James Nehemiah Curtis "Skip" James (June 9, 1902October 3, 1969) was an American Delta blues singer, guitarist, pianist and songwriter. AllMusic stated: "This emotional, lyrical performer was a talented blues guitarist and arranger with an impressive ...

Furry Lewis Walter E. "Furry" Lewis (March 6, 1893 or 1899 – September 14, 1981) was an American country blues guitarist and songwriter from Memphis, Tennessee. He was one of the first of the blues musicians active in the 1920s to be brought out of retir ...

, Bill Blue,

Little Brother Montgomery Eurreal Wilford "Little Brother" Montgomery (April 18, 1906 – September 6, 1985) was an American jazz, boogie-woogie Boogie-woogie is a genre of blues music that became popular during the late 1920s, developed in African-American communi ...

, Charles Tyler and

Bukka White Booker T. Washington "Bukka" White (November 12, 1906 February 26, 1977) was an American Delta blues guitarist and singer. Biography White was born south of Houston, Mississippi. He was a first cousin of B.B. King's mother (White's mother and ...

(blues), plus Patrick Sky (folk).

References

External links

Official Adelphi homepage

American record labels Record labels established in 1968 Blues record labels 1968 establishments in the United States {{US-record-label-stub

History

Recordings

See also

References

External links